In the field of orthopedic surgery, and particularly spinal surgery, it is well known to use a guide wire or what is also called a ‘K’ wire to provide a guide for the insertion of surgical instruments or implants into a surgical site. In some cases, this is a typical open surgical procedure where an incision has been made to fully open the surgical site to allow for the introduction of surgical tools and implants. In other cases, the surgeon desires to perform a minimal access surgical procedure where only a very small incision or access opening is created into which the surgeon would like to introduce the surgical tools, such as a surgical drill, tap, or other surgical instrument, to the surgical site. The surgeon additionally would like to introduce into this minimal access site the implants necessary to complete the surgical procedure.
Typically, when using such a relatively stiff guide wire, the surgeon would advance a sufficient length of the guide wire into the surgical site to make contact with the bony structure or soft tissue where the surgeon wishes to perform a surgical procedure. When performing spine surgery, the surgeon generally advances a variety of surgical tools over the guide wire, such as a drill and a tap for creating a threaded hole, and then the surgeon typically advances a cannulated bone screw over the guide wire for attachment to the bony structure or tissue. However, it is important for the surgeon to hold the guide wire firm against any further forward movement into the bony structure or tissue while advancing such instruments or implants along the guide wire to prevent the tip of the guide wire from advancing further into the surgical site and into unwanted areas of the bony structure or tissue such as the spinal cord, nerves, or blood vessels. Such unwanted advancement of the guide wire may cause punctures or other invasions that would require the surgeon to immediately remove such hardware to repair any damage, thus causing unnecessary pain, time, or expense in treating the patient. There are also many different spinal and orthopedic surgical procedures where a guide wire could be used and in many of these situations it would be desirable to control the tip of the guide wire in such a fashion that a surgeon could guarantee that the tip will not travel to unwanted anatomical locations.